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Review of The House With a Clock in its Walls (Nathan Barr)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you appreciate diverse fantasy instrumentation
emphasizing treble ranges, this score's resurrection of an authentic
Wurlitzer organ impressive in parts but leaving a nagging feeling of
incompleteness in its dainty mix.
Avoid it... if you demand a resounding fantasy soundscape for this topic, Nathan Barr's affable and spirited emulation of vintage Danny Elfman music engaging in parts but underplayed in much of its length.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The House With a Clock in its Walls: (Nathan Barr)
It's remarkable that the 1973 John Bellairs novel on which 2018's movie,
The House With a Clock in its Walls, is based had not been fully
plundered by studios prior to Eli Roth's version. The children's fantasy
story places a ten-year-old boy in the care of an uncle who practices
magic in a haunted old mansion. As the boy learns the craft, he, his
uncle, and a family friend must thwart the legacy of the house and the
doomsday clock hidden within. It's a tale about loss, primarily, sharing
some similarities in tone with 1995's Casper and enticing
audiences with its light-hearted demeanor and spectacular visual style.
The movie was only a moderate critical and fiscal success, satisfying
audiences but not living up to its potential. Arguably sharing the same
fate is the film's soundtrack, which itself has a long backstory. The
score is handled by Roth's longtime collaborator, Nathan Barr, who had
not been challenged with a full-fledged opportunity like this during his
successful career in the smaller modes of television scoring. Completely
aside from any consideration of The House With a Clock in its
Walls, Barr, who collects rare and unusual instruments, had managed
to purchase and restore the classic Wurlitzer organ that had originally
graced the scoring stage at 20th Century Fox and had been utilized by
countless film scores from the era of Bernard Herrmann to John Williams
and Elliot Goldenthal more recently. After six years of restoration
work, Barr built a custom scoring studio with the Wurlitzer as its
centerpiece and didn't need to wait long before a perfect film score
assignment for the instrument rolled his away. The composer had always
aspired to write a large-scale fantasy score akin to the music of John
Williams and Danny Elfman, and The House With a Clock in its
Walls allowed him to not only explore that genre in full but employ
the Wurlitzer at the same time. The instrument itself functions more
like a synthesizer than an organ, its immense capability conveyed in
over 1,500 pipes and the various methods of air movement through them.
The traditional pipe organ sound, of course, was expected for this film
because of the on-screen presence of an equivalent. The breathiness of
this instrument's authenticity is a major selling point of the score, as
truly synthetic alternatives cannot emulate the breathing sounds of the
pipes. It is, simply put, a pleasure to hear the fruits of Barr's
efforts on behalf of the instrument and the film.
One must separate the feel-good narrative of the Wurlitzer from the rest of the score's aspects, as The House With a Clock in its Walls's music is generally a mixed bag on the whole. Stylistically, Barr is clearly resurrecting a fair dose of Elfman's Beetlejuice, including the sometimes sparsely-rendered but colorful soundscape, eerie solo vocals for the afterlife, and off-kilter rhythmic flair for moments of good humor early in the story. The fluffiness and airiness of this score in general is the most surprising characteristic; the orchestrations are heavy on woodwinds and any soloist that can tap, puff, or flutter his way to the front of the mix. The first half of the score is as affable and charming as one can get, and even during the moments of mystery and intrigue, Barr maintains chimes or other light element in the mix to keep the atmosphere innocuous. As the villains of the tale begin to emerge in "Isaac's Album" and thereafter, the tone shifts slightly, but the action sequences never really have fright as their primary motivation. The mystical portions betray their Elfman origins a bit plainly, "Backyard Magic" owing strongly to Edward Scissorhands in its icy choral shades. Barr's set of themes for The House With a Clock in its Walls is actively conveyed but not always clear. Listeners might be best served by surveying "The Mighty Wultizer" cue at the end of the album to hear most of these ideas in succession before working back through the score, as the narrative of the music doesn't really reveal itself readily through its themes. The cute, main idea for the concept is introduced in "New Zebedee" (0:43) and continues in "Quite Different Around Here" and "A Boy Witch." Barr doesn't supply amplification or depth to this theme later in the score as one might expect (aside from a strong, major-key rendition at 4:33 into "Isaac Starts the Clock"), shifting between soft character themes related to the lead boy's familial relationships and quasi-menacing, descending, stomping phrases for the villains. The duo of "Back to Normal" and "Insect Book" allude to melodies in "Backyard Magic" and others, but it's difficult to ascertain exactly where Barr is trying to tie his melodic knots. The magnificent "Lewis Finds the Clock" offers engrossing choral and organ tonality but likewise without an obvious connection to one of the score's theme. The descending villain's motif, alternately for the clock, is more easily remembered if only for its easily accessible phrasing, especially in late action cues like "My Beautiful Wife" and "Isaac Starts the Clock," by which point low brass help clarify the identity with sheer force. One of the more intriguing aspects of the recording for The House With a Clock in its Walls is its disappointingly shallow depth. For a fantasy score, this music has very little resonance outside of passages in which the Wurlitzer is explicitly exercising its pipe organ mannerisms. Even there, the soundscape doesn't groan with power as one would expect. The entire affair is very lightly rooted in a smaller environment, which is great for appreciating Barr's creativity in individual cues. The sound effects provided organically late in "Bedroom Escape" are a good example of the score's humorous manners. But where the score excels in detailed personality, it badly lacks in the power of its fantasy, suspense, and action portions. Much of this transparency owes to the rather small ensemble of 40 musicians employed for the recording; if any score needed some overdubbing of background strings, this one was it. For instance, hefty cello and bass string support during the family theme early in "Mother Visits" would have assisted in generating some feeling of importance. The entire bass region seems muted, even at the score's most momentous passages, and that absence of fantasy force is quite unfortunate. Listeners may also be surprised by how little the Wulitzer figures as a stereotypical organ in a liturgical sense; only in a few cues does it really get fired up in earnest at the forefront of the mix. Ultimately, The House With a Clock in its Walls still achieves its basic aims and is recommended for listening enjoyment, but it underachieves in an otherwise grand opportunity for a roaringly dynamic and resounding fantasy score. Film music collectors only familiar with the composer's television works or film scores like Hostel or Cabin Fever will be interested in hearing this diversion for Barr, but between his lack of experience in children's fantasy and what seems like a restrictive budget for an ensemble (it's possible he simply recorded the score in the rather small studio containing the organ and a standard orchestra couldn't fit there), there's a nagging feeling in this score that the necessary gravitas is missing. Other listeners might be turned off by the intentionally carnivalesque atmosphere of the score's first half, but these comedic passages do not define the work. Originally released only digitally, the score received a limited CD from La-La Land Records in 2019 that adds eight minutes of filler material over ten extra tracks. This review is based on the lossless version, and if its soundscape seems restricted on the lower end in that format, it could be even more sparse when compressed. There's much to like in the personality of this score, but Barr's themes are a bit incohesive, the mix is dainty, and the Wurlitzer deserves more fantastic enunciation for this story. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
2018 Back Lot Album:
Total Time: 70:01
2019 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 78:26
* previously unreleased
NOTES & QUOTES:
No official packaging exists for the 2018 Back Lot album. The 2019 La-La Land
album's insert contains notes about both the score and the film.
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